Life is hard these days, and it doesn't take much to throw someone over the edge. What do you do when you lose your job and you just can't pay your bills anymore? Lucky for you there are now companies that promise to drastically reduce, or even eliminate your credit card debt. Wouldn't that be a relief? To have $5,000, $10,000, even $20,000 in debt magically disappear and you never have to repay it! Where do I sign up!

Is your scam alert going off yet? Remember the old saying, if it sounds to good to be true, it probably isn't? You have to give it to the scammers for creativity. The latest "wipe out your debt scam" sure sounds like it could be possible.

I thought it was bad enough when the scammers were promising to wipe out 30, 40, even 50% of your debt...or more! Whenever I hear a radio ad proclaiming that they know the "secrets the credit card companies don't want you to know!"  I  end up screaming at my radio Don't Do It! The only secret here is the scammer is going to run off with a lot of your money, and leave you in even more debt.

I guess promising to  eliminate "50% or more!" of your debt wasn't bringing in enough business. Now the scam artists are  promising to wipe out ALL of your credit card debt.  Legally and without ruining your credit score!

If you call these companies and ask them how they do it, they will tell you that it is actually illegal for the credit card companies to expect you to pay them back. The schemers may even say they base their debt elimination program on Title 15 United States Code, Section 1692; the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act, Section 1601; the Fair Credit Billing Act; and the Uniform Commercial Code, Section 203. Wow, that sounds official, it must be true. All you need to do is pay their exorbitant fee, often thousands of dollars, and they will tell you what to do to eliminate 100% of your debt. Then there is the icing on the cake, you can charge their fee to your credit card, which will them be eliminated by their program. So basically you are getting their services for free!

Once you have paid your fee to the debt elimination company, they will tell you that some portion of your contract with your credit card company is illegal, and that you can sue your credit card company and force them to forgive the debt you owe. If only it were that easy. Yes you can sue your credit card company, and chances are about 99.99% that you are going to lose. So now you are out not only the fees you paid the scammers, but legal fees as well. Oh, and you still have all the credit card debt you started out with.

In another type of scam, the company provides you with a document that you send to your creditor, along with a small payment. According to the scammers, if the credit card company accepts your payment, they also accept the document, and you no longer need to pay your bills. Not True! What happens is you stop paying your credit card bills,you accumulate late fees and penalties, and by the time you realize that you still owe the money, the scammers are long gone!

If you have been taken in by one of these eliminate your debt scammers there is not much you can do to get your money back. You can report them to the attorney general of your state, and to the Better Business Bureau and hopefully you can help prevent others from falling for the same scam. If you can find the scam company you can try and sue them, but it won't be easy. But chances are slim that you will ever see your money again.

If you are in over your head in debt, what you need to do is ignore the scammers and contact the Association of Independent Consumer Credit Counseling Agencies. They will help work out a budget and negotiate a payment plan with your creditors. All for a very nominal fee.